1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a light source device and a projector, and particularly to a technology of a light source device having a wavelength conversion element.
2. Related Art
Recently, a technology of a light source device of a projector which uses laser beam source has been proposed. Compared with a UHP lamp used as light source for the projector in related art, laser beam source has characteristics such as preferable color rendering properties, long life, and immediate turning on and off. For displaying images using laser beam source currently developed, light is supplied from a plurality of laser beam sources in some cases so as to obtain a sufficient amount of light. For example, JP-A-6-233778 proposes a technology of combining a plurality of laser beam sources. According to the technology disclosed in JP-A-6-233778, lights emitted from the plural laser beam sources and introduced through fibers are combined by a light combining unit.
The laser beam source currently known are a type which emits fundamental light without changing wavelength, and a type which converts wavelength of fundamental light by using a wavelength conversion element. By using the wavelength conversion element, laser beams having desired wavelength and sufficient light amount can be supplied from a general-purpose light source easily available. When employing the technology disclosed in JP-A-6-233778, the light source device requires the same number of wavelength conversion elements as that of the laser beam sources. By the requirement of the plural wavelength conversion elements, the manufacturing cost and the size of the light source device increase.